For the past eleven weeks or so I have been talking about the vision that I think God is going to work among us. Namely, it is sending people and financial provision into our midst in order that we might equip the saints and provide for God’s work among all the nations. And Matt’s message last week, I believe, only confirmed what many of us have expressed is the vision to which God is leading us.
And in the coming weeks, I want to now focus on becoming that community of believers that God will be able to use to equip others for His work. And one of the ways that I believe God wants us to realize that dream of becoming such a community is by focusing on being a covenant people. We need to be people who have covenanted with one another to live lives according to God’s principles and commands and, therefore, reflecting His glory.
In our pursuit of this I want to start this morning addressing holiness among the people of God. And one of the greatest messages of holiness in the bible is found in the book of Job, namely, the thirty-first chapter. But before we get there, let me remind you again of the context of this chapter.
In the beginning of the book there is this heavenly scene in which the angelic beings and such are presenting themselves before God, and Satan is in their midst. God and Satan have a conversation in which the author writes, “And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil’” (Job 1:8).
Satan then answers in the following verses, in essence, saying, “Of course He fears you. Look what he has. Touch what he has and he will curse you” (Job 1:9-11). And God gives Satan the go ahead to destroy all the Job has without touching Job.
Listen to verses 12-19, “Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
What happens to Job in one day is more than any of us can probably imagine. He lost every possession he had on this earth, and he lost his children. And God was the one who had initiated all of this in His conversation with Satan in verse 8.
There is not a power within man that could even go on with life after such tragedy, and yet look at Job’s response. It is full of mourning, but not just mourning. It is also full of worship. The author writes in verses 20-22, “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.”
Job rips his clothes, shaves his head, falls to the ground, and worshipped. And let me tell you, Job did not worship God by denying God’s sovereign control in this world. He did not think God was not in control of this. He says, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.” And yet he worships and blesses God. Is there any greater call than this for us to forsake ourselves and delight in God so that He may receive glory ? I am astounded by this passage.
And yet it doesn’t stop there. Satan again meets with God, and God points out that Job has remained blameless, fearing of God, and full of integrity. Adding, “Though you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause” (2:3). God says that there is no cause for what Job has gone through.
And yet again Satan attacks Job saying, “Sure he still praises you, a man will give up everything to save his own life. Touch his body, and he will curse you.” And God says, “He is in your power, only spare his life” (2:6).
Verses 7-10 say, “Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes. 9Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”
And again the Scripture says, “Job did not sin with his lips.” And he did this not trying to hide from the sovereignty of God. Yet simultaneously his grief was so great that when his friends came to him, they remained silent before him for seven days.
And for the next twenty-nine chapters we read of Job’s friends discussing with him that the reason for his suffering is hidden sin, while Job is defending himself. This reaches a climax in chapter thirty-one.
Now the stage is set for chapter thirty-one. Job has seemingly lost everything, and those closest to him are saying that he has sin in his life. If there is ever a time for a man to confess sin, it is now. Yet, listen to Job’s confession of his life. It is versed as a “negative confession.” By that I mean Job is not saying I have done so and so, and that is good. Rather, he is saying, “If I have every done this or that, then that would be just cause for punishment, but I have not done those things.” And, therefore, by seeing what Job has not done, we receive a covenant for holy living, or a moral code by which Job lived.
Let’s read his words.
“I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze at a virgin? “And what is the portion of God from above Or the heritage of the Almighty from on high? “Is it not calamity to the unjust And disaster to those who work iniquity? “Does He not see my ways And number all my steps? “If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot has hastened after deceit, Let Him weigh me with accurate scales, And let God know my integrity. “If my step has turned from the way, Or my heart followed my eyes, Or if any spot has stuck to my hands, Let me sow and another eat, And let my crops be uprooted. “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, Or I have lurked at my neighbor’s doorway, May my wife grind for another, And let others kneel down over her. “For that would be a lustful crime; Moreover, it would be an iniquity punishable by judges. “For it would be fire that consumes to Abaddon, And would uproot all my increase. “If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves When they filed a complaint against me, What then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him? “Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb? “If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the orphan has not shared it (But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And from infancy I guided her), If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, Or that the needy had no covering, If his loins have not thanked me, And if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep, If I have lifted up my hand against the orphan, Because I saw I had support in the gate, Let my shoulder fall from the socket, And my arm be broken off at the elbow. “For calamity from God is a terror to me, And because of His majesty I can do nothing. “If I have put my confidence in gold, And called fine gold my trust, If I have gloated because my wealth was great, And because my hand had secured so much; If I have looked at the sun when it shone Or the moon going in splendor, And my heart became secretly enticed, And my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, That too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment, For I would have denied God above. “Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy, Or exulted when evil befell him. “No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin By asking for his life in a curse. “Have the men of my tent not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been satisfied with his meat’? “The alien has not lodged outside, For I have opened my doors to the traveler. “Have I covered my transgressions like Adam, By hiding my iniquity in my bosom, Because I feared the great multitude, And the contempt of families terrified me, And kept silent and did not go out of doors? “Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature; Let the Almighty answer me! And the indictment which my adversary has written, Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, I would bind it to myself like a crown. “I would declare to Him the number of my steps; Like a prince I would approach Him. “If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together; If I have eaten its fruit without money, Or have caused its owners to lose their lives, Let briars grow instead of wheat, And stinkweed instead of barley.”
In this chapter, Job lists fourteen sins that he has not committed. They are:
1) Lust (vv.1-4) 2) Falsehood (vv.5-6) 3) Covetousness (vv.7-8) 4) Adultery (vv.9-12) 5) Mistreatment of one’s servants (vv.13-15) 6) Lack of concern for the poor (vv.16-18) 7) Failure to provide for the poor (vv.19-20) 8) Perversion of justice against the weak (vv.21-23) 9) Trust in wealth instead of God (vv.24-25) 10) Worship of idols (vv.26-28) 11) Satisfaction at an enemy’s misfortune (vv.29-30) 12) Failure to extend hospitality to a traveler (vv.31-32) 13) Hiding sin without confession (vv.33-34) 14) Abuse of the land (vv.38-40)
Think of yourself in the same situation. Could you make the same claim that Job has made? My thoughts are that none of us could. Job ruled out sexual sin by covenanting with his eyes that he would not look lustfully at a woman. Job did not gloat about his wealth, knowing that it was nothing compared to the lasting possession he had in God. And he did not hide any sin. He was not one to conceal his sin in order to appear perfect before others.
His claim was holistic. He addresses almost anything of which we could think. And he does not merely deal with concerns like honesty and sexual purity, but he also deals with issues like hunger, homelessness, and political injustice. I would say that is a call to live purely in our minds and fight against such causes as abortion in our day and time. Yes, Job made his frustration known to God, but suffering is not enjoyable, and God can handle our frustration. But Job lived holy, remarkably holy in his life, as he recounts in this chapter.
And yet I want to say as well that we have the power to do the same thing. We have the ability to live the same way because of the grace of God. And that’s odd to say isn’t it? It is odd because we are probably inclined to criticize Job and say, “Hey, buddy, we are saved by God’s grace, not your good deeds.” And that is true, but it is also true that God’s grace in our lives does not only mean that our sins are forgiven. It also means “availability of a new spiritual power that makes it possible for the moral quality of our lives not just to meet but to exceed the standards we find in Job’s code of honor,” (David Gushee).
That’s why we say that you can see the evidence of God’s grace in someone—because they live obediently by the grace which God supplies. And such a lifestyle is necessary among us who know Christ as our Lord. We need to strive to live holy in all areas of our lives.
I pray that we would be a covenant community of believers that live in such a way. And let me end by simply giving you three reasons why purity and holiness in our lives is so necessary.
In the story of Job, Satan seems to be challenging Job by all this great distress. In another sense, however, he is challenging the delight that man can find in God. Satan is, in essence, saying to God, “Job does not delight in you. He delights in your gifts. Therefore, strip away everything from him and you will not be enough to sustain worship and joy in his life.
Job’s faithfulness and continual worship of God scorned the plans of Satan. It’s as if Job, by his purity and holiness throughout his life, stabbed a dagger into the chest of Satan, and as he fell to the ground in worship after great calamity, it only drove it deeper.
Job reflected before Satan and the whole world the all-sufficiency of God. Job’s life screams this truth: our highest joy in life can be found in God alone.
In the same way, as we live holy in our lives (worshipping, living morally pure, and fighting to love our neighbors as ourselves), we reflect how unbelievably good and great our God is. We tell the world that our God is holy, He is pure in every way, and that He cares for His people with love so great that He did not even spare His own Son to show it. We reflect the character of God in the way that we live our lives.
Just as we read this story and are blown away by Job’s holiness and worship throughout his life (in the face of tremendous suffering), men should look at us and think the same thing as well. I pray for men to be able to look at us as the people of God and say, “I’ve never known men and women like that.” And when they are flabbergasted we will make sure they know it is only by the grace of God, in order that God alone may receive glory.
And let me also say, in keeping in line with Jesus, love is a major part of our holy lifestyle. So-called holiness without love for one another is like water that is not wet. It simply does not exist because love is intrinsic within holiness (as wetness is with water). And we must strive for this.
When we depart from holy living, we are like salt which loses its flavor. We are good for nothing. The world will not behold our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. And bringing Him glory is the very purpose for which we were created.
This demands that each of us strives for holiness, because as one organism we need one another to function properly. Just as you can’t say you have a “healthy” body because you only have cancer in your lungs, you cannot be a holy community without every one of us striving for such. And what this entails as well is that we need to be laboring in prayer, accountability, and encouragement for one another’s holiness.
It also demands that we are unified. Handicaps in people occurs often because the mind and the body do not work together correctly. They are not in correct unity. However, as we as one body strive for holiness among us, we will be unified in one purpose and will bring glory to our Lord.
And finally, as one body, what we do affects others. By joining yourself together with brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, it is no longer the case that your or my lack of holiness is just one’s own business. No, rather, it affects everyone. We are one, and I pray that we would become a covenant community reflecting the holiness of God.
May God use us by His grace to be the Job’s of our day. May He use us to show the world who He is and that there is no greater joy than that which is found in Him.